WHAT IS RURAL (and what is BRA-C Bangladesh Rural Advancement COLLABORATIONS)
Educators/parents/family builders need to be very clear about definitions so as not to upset powers such as big city corporations professions and politicians. We are just trying to share a local and global code to value mapping human development across generations as core to national growth. We welcome co-editing support of this blog where you see errors/omissions (chris.macrae@yahoo.co.uk)
Unless we agree human development code that is deeply local as mother nature herself, THEN ever since von neumann peers gifted us 100 rimes more tech per decade we have been destined for 2020s "last chance" denouements - do artificial intels serve humans or vice versa. The big brother choice storytold by George Orweell even though his timelines were wrong by one generation. As New York started to fully emerge from covid spring 2022, we thank all those who participated in collaboration cafe AI and climate exchanges - see www.NYCCAI.com www.ecop26.com including march 30's 1 million global student chatline with sp[ecial contribution from Safiqul Islam who during Fazle Abed's life was his core developer of the curriculum used by the largest non-government schools system in the world 4.2 brac primary
Bangaladesh was born from war of independence wuth pakistan in 1971 8th most populous nation. The peoples had drawn double short straw of colonisation. Under British Adminstration until 1947 the whole of the bay of Bengal had shared superport access to Calcutta. From partitioning not only duid Indoa's rival culture block Bangaldeshi's from direct access to shipping but for nearly quarter of a century pakistan over 1000 miles away by land adminstered east pakistan as secondary people to its own.
(A quarter of all nations are small islands where once could say its not relevant to distinguish urban/rural- in fact stewardship of the ocean estate may be the main resource the peoples depend on
Engines did not exist until Glasgow 1760s so to some extent all (richest) nations have transformed from rurtal first to urban led government.
The two most relevant defintions of rural seem to be - urbal places are not food self-sufficient- they depend on rural areas (or in case of superports like singapore they depend on trade with countries that include rural areas)
In the developing world, until 1995 rural also meant no access to electricity (grids) so no enfines no telecommunications. What happened from 1995combination of sola and mobile becemae the greatest innovation opportinoty half the worlds people simultaneously encountered.
In Bangladesh rural has quite an unsusual characteristic. Most Bangaldesh rural people are as closely populated as many people in cities. At least 80% od bangaldesh's rural chalenge is not about isolated peoples (although there is a seg,ment of that population to). When Abed designed vilage health services in his first 100000 person metavilage it was quite practical to design a microifarnchise where one vilage woman served 300 gamilies retail medican needs eacjh weekly (personal shopping walked to each home so to speak). Her route would not have taken her more than 15 minutes from wgere sh hersekf lived - in some cases less than 10 minutes to serve 300 neraest families. Its amazing when you look at western descriptions of bangaldesh microfinace how the wholesaling dynamics of Brac's responsibility fro suppklying 100000 peopel at at time are overloked. Wholesaling to a 90% rural nation needs to be owned in trust by the rural peoples not by some middle man who sucks value out of rural localities every quarter. Rural caoitalism is mapped naturally around sme networks /sypply chioans. Interestingly AsiaRisinf hi-tech treading models also connected deep sme startup expertise valued by communities where those design and makers skills were most nurtured. Distributing enegineering knowhow is how Asa has developed wherever human rightes have emerged. This is different from assuming lawters admibnster over people. When Asian public service is at its best it is engineer enetrepreneur led- again why its important to study fazle abed viewed as the most exciting public service engineer of the hakf century that changed the millennium - defined human purposes around millennium and then ssuatinability development goals
HOW DID BANGLADESH BECOME RURAL PUBLIC SERVICE LED
A mixtire of necessity and the good fortune that Asia's leading young engineer (Fazle Abed who had become his homelnad's CEO for Royal Dutch Shell in Il world's top 7 corporations) dedicated himself to rural advancement colaborations and by accident (spending his life savongs on rebuilding vilagers homes)5.1 metavilage), he became responsible for sustaining 100,000 villagers livelihoods who were on the brink of starvation .
This metavilage responsibility led to 1.1 microfranchsingh - the new model of bottom up aid. All this at a time when 90% og banagldesh people were rural; the national government tax etc base was so small at birth of nation that it could only barely provide security for the nation and develop services for the 10% who lived in cities (which due to war and double colonisation (britain then pakistan) etc were the least developed urban areas in the world
As well as the miracle of a world calss enginer serving rural, the cukltrural fact that almost no rural womnen had been valued as productive afents could be turned into the advantage- half the coutry's human resources were not being supported proiductively.
Each of the 4 collaborations - 2 building agricultuure/ie nations food system,s; 3 building last mile rural health; 4 building rural edication 5 building 100000 lives matter rural communities needs to be mapped from scratch not assumptions that advanced western acadmics or policy makers hold.
Actually if the west in particular wished to understand how the two thirds of Asians have risen out of almosy all being colonised as recently as 1945 then it is necessary to study both super vilage (rural keynesianism) and supercity develpmet. # nations led the way - japan , korea south and taiwan. However the point is these nations had prior engineering capabilities and urban sytustires which after the defeta of Japan in world war 2 needed ressembling. They all quickly returned to urban goverance but in ways that respecetd 100% rural employment as pivital to feedin the nation. The Economist sutveys on Asia from 1962 Japan to all of the half of world's peopl in 1977 east of iran have argued that Asia Rising has depended on successfully blending both models. However whats unique about bangaldesh with its poorest nation and 90% rural beginning is that withour rural development there would have been no sustainable national development. Some people have called bangaldesh the aid lab. More than any other nation irs rural development has depended on long-term trusted partnerships bring knowhow to each rural developed sector. By studying Abedmooc.com we (with your help) can clarify all the extrordinary innovations of rural women empowerment. For those who want an advanced nation building study look at how between 1975 to 1999 rural womens capitalsim also came to china from the conteiuent out while the engineering of supercities came from the coast in. Whether or not particular 2020s nations deem china as fiuerce competitor ofr collaborators not to study chiense vilage women development 1976-1999 is to choose to be blind to what schumacher/keynes deemed the graetest miracle economists would need to solve - endinf roural poverty of milliosn of ruralk vilages which mainly tyhe english adminsitartion of Asia had left out of access to engines from 1760 to 1945 except where coastal trade designed for the empire required urban hubs
Of course even as we seek to clarify development processes , water, energy, defence/safety are in a democratic sense every parnets responsibility to stewatd but by 20th C convention assumed decisions that central government at least initially makes (even if it chooses to privatises the utlities ijnvolved)
We are not saying the opposite interest of urban/rural are simple. Histirically urban people have grown the mnore carbon they use and to that exten the less that carbon waste is charged as a user responsibility. This conflicts with rural people whose assets are the first to be destroyed ifb waste is dumped on them or in climate-risky places like low landing river basins of bangaldesh -rural gfamilies are put at the edge of sutvival. As may be neighboring peoples if failed institutions cause refugee situations
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